In today's telecommunications, digital networks transport large amounts of information. Network services can be, for example, traditional voice phone, facsimile, television, audio and video broadcast, and information transfer.
With the increasing need of information exchange in the global society, the capacity of existing and future networks must be used efficiently. Multiplexers switch different network services to a single network in such a way that every service is fully maintained and does not disturb other services.
In a typical communication integrated circuit many components are involved in the processing of information. Some of these components (such as but not limited to processors) also execute additional tasks. In addition, some components participate in the processing of information packets or information frames that arrive from many communication channels.
In order to bridge between the responses of the various components various memory units are used. These memory units usually include First In First Out (FIFO) memory units (also referred to as buffers).
Buffers can experience under-runs. An under-run occurs when the buffer does not include enough (or any) information. Thus, when another component reads the buffer the buffer does not provide valid information.
There is a need to provide efficient methods for managing under-runs as well as efficient devices having under-run management capabilities.